Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) reported that international visitors to Japan in March 2016 increased by 31.7% year on year to 2.01 million, which resulted in record-high international visitors on a single month basis, exceeding the previous record of 1.92 million in July 2015. The total for the first three months of 2016 was up 39.3%.
The table below shows changes of international visitors to Japan in the past year:
The top inbound market for Japan in March 2016 was continuously China with 498,000 visitors (+46.3%), followed by Korea with 374,000 (+39.5%), Taiwan with 328,000 (+18.2%). The total of visitors from China for the first three months of 2016 already reached 1,472,000. Also, the large growths were found in Singapore (+42.6%), Philippine (+40%) and Australia (+43.3%).
Details by market are as follows:
JNTO said that the large growth in March was particularly boosted by cherry blossom viewing demand and the Easter holidays in U.S. or Europe. Also, successive promotional activities, extension of the air network to Japan, an increase in port calls of cruise ships and reduction of fuel surcharges activated the inbound travel market. In April, JNTO will pay attention to possible negative influences from the Kumamoto Earthquake.
In Japanese
